Certain di-tert-butylphenol compounds and other compounds structurally related thereto have been found to have significant anti-inflammatory and/or analgesic activity; others have been found to have other disease altering activities. Certain of such compounds, processes for making them, and uses for them are disclosed in the following references: U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,535,165 issued to Moore on Aug. 13, 1985; 4,724,246 issued to Ravichandran on Feb. 9, 1988; 4,808,620 issued to Oe, Kawasaki, Terasawa & Yasunaga on Feb. 28, 1989; 4,891,374 issued to Thorwart, Gebert, Schleyerbach & Bartlett on Jan. 2, 1990; 4,908,364 issued to Thorwart, Gebert, Schleyerbach & Bartlett on Mar. 13, 1990; 4,940,790 issued to Thorwart, Gebert, Schleyerbach & Bartlett on Jul. 10, 1990; 5,155,122 issued to Connor, Flynn, Kostlan, Mullican, Shrum, Unangst & Wilson on Oct. 13, 1992; Japanese Patent Application Nos. 58-148858 of Yamanouchi Pharm. Co. published on Sep. 5, 1983; 1-180878 of Yoshitomi Pharm. Ind. published Jul. 18, 1989; 2-229169 of Takeda Chemical Ind. published Sep. 11, 1990: Isomura, Y., S. Sakamoto, N. Ito, H. Homma, T. Abe & K. Kubo, "Synthesis and Anti-inflammatory Activity of 2,6-Di-tert-butylphenols with a Heterocyclic Group at the 4-Position. III.", Chem. Pharm. Bull., Vol. 32 (1984) No. 1, pp. 152-165; Unangst, P. C., G. P. Shrum, D. T. Connor, R. D. Dyer & D. J. Schrier, "Novel 1,2,4-Oxadiazoles and 1,2,4-Thiadiazoles as Dual 5-Lipoxygenase and Cyclooxygenase Inhibitors", J. Med. Chem., Vol. 35 (1992), pp. 3691-3698; Costantino, L., C. Parenti, M. Di Bella, P. Zanoli & M. Baraldi, "Anti-inflammatory Activity of Newly Synthesized 2,6-Bis-(1,1-Dimethylethyl)Phenol Derivatives", Pharmacological Research, Vol. 27 (1993) No. 4, pp. 349-358; Mullican, M. D., M. W. Wilson, D. T. Connor, C. R. Kostlan, D. J. Schrier & R. D. Dyer, "Design of 5-(3,5-Di-tert-butyl-4-hydroxyphenyl)-1,3,4-thiadiazoles,-1,3,4-oxadiazole s, and-1,2,4-triazoles as Orally-Active, Nonulcerogenic Anti-inflammatory Agents", J. Med. Chem., Vol. 36 (1993), pp. 1090-1099.
Although a number of di-tert-butylphenol compounds have been demonstrated to exhibit anti-inflammatory activity, many such compounds exhibit little or no anti-inflammatory activity. Thus it is generally not possible to predict whether such compounds have substantial anti-inflammatory activity without testing for the activity.
It is an object of the subject invention to provide compounds which have effective anti-inflammatory, analgesic and/or anti-oxidant activity.
It is a further object of the subject invention to provide such compounds which cause few adverse side effects.
It is also an object of the subject invention to provide methods for treating inflammation and/or pain using the subject compounds.